e course the frontiersmen stood
close together and keen eyes and trained ears noted everything that
passed in the forest.

Henry and his four comrades were at the point of the segment nearest to
the confluence of the Ohio and the Licking. Here they sat upon the
ground in a close group in the underbrush, speaking but rarely, while
time passed slowly. The character of the night had not changed. The
solemn wind never ceased to moan among the trees, and far off in the
west the thunder yet muttered. The strokes of lightning were far
between, but as before they cast a blood red tinge over forest and
river. The five were some hundreds of yards beyond the camp, and they
could see nothing then, although they heard now and then the rattle of
arms and a word or two from the officers. Once they heard the sound of
heavy wheels, and they knew that the cannon had been wheeled into
position. Clark had even been able to secure light artillery for his
great expedition.

"Do you think them big guns will be of any use?" asked Shif'less Sol.

"Not at night," replied Henry, "but in the daytime if we come to close
quarters they'll certainly say something worth hearing."

It was now nearly half way between midnight and morning when the
vitality is lowest. Paul, as he lay among the pawpaws, was growing very
sleepy. He had not moved for so long a time and the night was so warm
that his eyes had an almost invincible tendency to close, but his will
did not permit it. Despite the long silence he had no doubt that the
attack would come. So he looked eagerly into the forest every time the
lightning flashed, and always he strained his ears that he might hear,
if anything was to be heard.

The melancholy wind died, and the air became close, hot and heavy. The
leaves ceased to move, and there was no stir in the bushes, but Henry
thought that he heard a faint sound. He made a warning gesture to his
companions, and they, too, seemed to hear the same noise. All of Paul's
sleepiness disappeared. He sat up, every nerve and muscle attuned for
the crisis. Henry and he, at almost the same moment, saw the bushes move
in front of them. Then they saw the bronze faces with the scalp lock
above them, peering forth. The five sat perfectly silent for a few
moments and more bronze faces appeared. The gaze of one of the Indians
wandered toward the clump of pawpaws, and he saw there one of the five
who had now risen a little higher than the rest to look. He knew tha